Satoshi's Sitting Service
by Orangen
Summary: One Shot, post-manga. Meiko calls Satoshi as an absolute last resort for a baby sitter, and Satoshi learns that watching a kid is a bit harder than he thought.


_Disclaimer_: Unfortunately, I don't own Marmalade Boy.

_Author's Notes_: I really don't know where this came from, other than the fact that Satoshi seems like he'd be a really fun babysitter. Plus, his teasing of Meiko is always funny…

**Satoshi's Sitting Service**

"Oh? A call from the _great_ Meiko Namura? To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Trust me, if there was any other option, I'd go with it."

Meiko sighed, tucking a piece of her long hair behind her ear. Satoshi's sing-song voice was floating through the opposite end of the phone line, and honestly, she wasn't entirely sure why she was calling him. Well, actually, she was sure why, but she really wished that she hadn't had to…

"Well, you still called me, didn't you?"

The young woman forced herself to at least sound polite. "Yes, well, you see… I need someone to watch Yuuki for a little while tomorrow afternoon. I'll be having a meeting with my publisher, and Nachan will be taking care of business almost all day…"

Yuuki was Meiko's four-year-old son, and he was (for the most part) as well-mannered as his parents. Nachan had been a bit uncomfortable with Meiko having a child so early, but Meiko had assured him that she'd be able to handle everything perfectly well.

"Hm. I would have thought that Koishikawa would be your first choice," Satoshi replied, his voice dripping with fake disappointment.

"Miki _was_ my first choice. She and Yuu are out on another one of their vacations," Meiko answered sourly. "I even tried to call Ginta and Arimi, and then Suzu and Kei, but they're all busy was well."

"Well, it's just your luck that I happen to have an off day tomorrow!" the architect sang. "I'll be there as soon as you need me to."

"A-All right. Thank you very much, Miwa."

"Oh, no problem!"

Meiko breathed a sigh of relief as she hang up the phone, suddenly feeling a very strong sense of foreboding about the whole situation…

* * *

The next afternoon, Meiko paced back and forth in her living room as she looked up at the clock. She really had to leave in less than ten minutes in order to get to her publisher's on time, and Satoshi still hadn't shown up yet…

When the doorbell rang several seconds later, Meiko hurriedly opened it, for once hoping to see the dark-haired man. Satoshi's smirk was welcome for once, and his grin widened as Meiko ushered him inside. However, she didn't let go of the door handle as she started speaking.

"Yuuki should be waking up from his nap soon, he's allergic to strawberries, and the emergency numbers are listed on a note on the kitchen counter. Oh, and heat some food up for him in about an hour."

"No time for greetings, I see," Satoshi replied, sighing overdramatically.

"I'm sorry, Miwa, but you really should have gotten here earlier! I'll be back in a few hours. Thanks."

With that, Meiko promptly closed the door. Satoshi blinked and shook his head; at least the kid sounded easy enough to handle, even if his mother wasn't.

Satoshi grinned again and flopped down onto the living room couch. The kid probably wouldn't _really_ be up soon, so Satoshi would have time to take a quick nap himself…

…Or not, as several seconds later, he heard a quiet shuffling noise. A small toddler with wavy brown hair was trudging down the stairs, sucking his thumb and yawning. Yuuki paused as he looked up at Satoshi, not wearing the typical look of surprise that most other children would have upon seeing an unfamiliar man in their house.

"Are you Mr. Miwa?" he asked sleepily. "Mommy told me a lot about you."

"Oh, did she?" _Probably nothing good, but hey, there's hope…_

"She said you're really interesting."

Also surprisingly, Yuuki didn't stumble over the large word. Satoshi scratched the back of his neck, imagining the tone Meiko must have used when saying "interesting."

"Well… I guess she could have said worse… So, what do you want me to make for you later?"

"Mommy never asks me what I want to eat. She always just fixes something."

_This is off to a great start_… Satoshi thought, looking at the pensive look on Yuuki's face. However, moments later, the boy's large eyes brightened up.

"Can you make cake, Mr. Miwa?"

"Of course I can," Satoshi bluffed. He'd never actually made cake before, of course, but it couldn't be that difficult… Besides, if all went well, Meiko would never have to know that her son had eaten dessert for dinner. "Do you know if your parents keep cake mix around?"

"Cake mix?"

Yuuki blinked, toddling into the kitchen as he repeated Satoshi's words. The architect quickly followed after him, an ever-widening grin on Satoshi's face. Cake really did sound good at the moment…

"Mommy says she keeps all of her box stuff in the cabinets."

The four-year-old paused, clearly waiting for his babysitter to look for said "box stuff." Satoshi hastily rifled through several cabinets before finding a box of chocolate cake mix and a half-full can of vanilla icing.

"Okay, kiddo, here goes nothing!"

* * *

Satoshi groaned as he sank down into one of the kitchen chairs. He'd just pulled the cake out of the oven, and something told him that baking said dessert had been much harder than it should have been. Sure, Yuu teased Satoshi almost as often as he teased Miki about his cooking ineptitude, but… Satoshi had never quite messed up this much before.

While the cake had evidently turned out all right, the kitchen was a mess. A few egg shells and a bit of yolk were strewn across the table, there was milk all over the counter, and somehow a bit of the cake mix had ended up on the ceiling. It would be torture to clean everything up…

…Which was why Satoshi decided that he'd leave clean-up time to Meiko.

"Hey, Mr. Miwa. When do we get to eat?"

Yuuki was blinking anxiously at the cake, obviously ready to eat it immediately. Satoshi patted the toddler on the shoulder as he stood up.

"Well, we have to wait for it to cool down first! How about we go get something to play with?"

"Okay!"

Almost as soon as Satoshi had finished speaking, Yuuki had darted off as fast as his short legs could take him. Several minutes later, he had spread several kids' books out on the living room floor.

"Oh, no, Yuuki! I meant something fun," Satoshi winked.

"Ah… I get it."

Picking up the armful of books, Yuuki headed back upstairs again. Satoshi flopped down onto the couch again as he waited for the boy to return. When Yuuki scuffled back downstairs, his books had been traded for several toy trucks and a few blocks.

"That's better, Yuuki. Would you like to play with the blocks or the trucks first?"

"The blocks!"

Satoshi smiled as he watched Yuuki grin and stack the letter-printed cubes on top of one another…

* * *

The doorbell rang a little over an hour later. Yuuki had been playing with his trucks and then switched back to the blocks—he'd never eaten any of the cake. As Satoshi opened the door, he hoped that the boy wouldn't mention being hungry to Meiko…

"Ah, Miwa, how'd it go?" Meiko asked, stepping inside and taking off her jacket.

"I think it went pretty well; Yuuki's having fun anyway."

Hey, it was the truth… Yuuki _was_ enjoying himself. At least Meiko couldn't get mad at Satoshi for lying…

"Well, thanks again. Here…" Meiko held out her jacket with one hand and fished around in one of the pockets with her other hand. "Take a few yen. I'm sure it wasn't as easy as you're making it out to be."

_You have no idea_, Satoshi laughed silently, accepting the money. "Thanks. I'll, uh, just be going now… See you, Meiko."

Meiko raised an eyebrow. "All right. Good bye, Miwa."

As Satoshi darted through the door, Meiko shook her head. The man was being far too agreeable, so she knew that something had to be up.

"Mommy!"

Yuuki suddenly abandoned his blocks and darted over to Meiko. As he threw his arms around her knees, she smiled and ruffled his hair. His stomach suddenly growled, though, causing Meiko's eyes to widen.

"Yuuki! Did you not get anything to eat?"

"Oh! That's right! It's cool now… I think…"

Meiko started to feel suspicious as she watched her son waddle into the kitchen. When she followed him, her suspicion turned into horror. An open jar of icing and a cake were sitting on the counter—how could anyone think of giving a child cake for dinner? Even more horrifying was the state of the kitchen. To say that it was a mess of cake ingredients would be an understatement.

"Can I eat the cake now, Mommy?"

"No, you absolutely may not! I'm making you some rice."

Yuuki hung his head in disappointment as his mother started scrambling frantically around the room.

* * *

When Nachan arrived home several hours later, he was quite surprised to find Meiko hauling a stepladder into the house. Furthermore, she seemed to be muttering "Stupid Miwa…" over and over again under her breath. Deciding that some things were better left unasked, Nachan shrugged and took the backdoor instead, fortunately bypassing the mess of a kitchen. Yuuki, contrarily, was in a much better mood, and flung himself at Nachan with a grin.

"Hi, Daddy! I want the man who came today to come back!"

"_Not if we want this house to stay in one piece_!"

Meiko had somehow heard them all the way from the kitchen, although her shriek sounded a bit muffled. Sighing, Nachan shook his head at Yuuki, and his son looked rather disappointed but nodded back anyway.

The first thing Nachan would do the next day would be lining up a babysitter that was a bit better for his wife's sanity.


End file.
